Easington Colliery 1-2 Guisborough Town

Match Report

Guisborough Town got the new league season off to a great start with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Easington Colliery which Town Manager Nathan Haslam described as a win with ‘Flying Colours.’

He said although the Priorymen weren’t brilliant “let’s be honest, any win on the road is a great win. We scored two good goals and those are what won us the game.

“In the first half we had the majority of the play and on the stroke of half-time we deservedly went ahead with a very good goal. We produced a good moment of combination play in and around their box and a great finish by Muzzy.

“Then we started the second half brightly with more great play again, with some good work by Connor Gant getting into their box and rolling the ball across goal and Elliott Beddow flicked it into the back of the net and it was these goals that won us the game.

“From that point on we came under pressure and stopped doing what we had been doing to go 2-0 up and we just sat back and soaked up the pressure.

“But in the whole of the 90 minutes we restricted Easington to just two shots on target – one from a set piece free kick and the other from a penalty 10 minutes from time.

“So overall they’ve not caused us too many problems but a 2-1 win on the road is great when we weren’t at our best – and I think there were a few nerves with it being the opening game of the season.

“Ultimately, Easington’s a tough place to go to but we’ve got three points out of the trip there and I think we’ve passed with flying colours.

“We now move on to Boro Rangers at home next Wednesday in our first league derby of the season,” added Nathan.

The game was relatively even up until the half-hour mark but on 31 minutes Guisborough created their first real chance of the game when Jack Bailey laid the ball off to Elliott Beddow but his shot was deflected through harmlessly to the Easington ‘keeper.

But in the second minute of time added on the Priorymen stormed into the lead when a great passage of play saw Bailey flick the ball into the path of Kurtis Howes who slotted the ball neatly to Beddow who in turn found Muzzy Abdullahi who curled the ball home into the bottom corner for 1-0 go Guisborough.

It was a great boost for the Priorymen so close to half-time and even better was to come just two minutes into the second half with a terrific team move by Guisborough.

First, Howes hit an unbelievable through ball to Connor Gant and the right hand side and he played the ball into a dangerous area for recent new signing Elliott Beddow to flick the ball home for 2-0 to the Priorymen.

BRILLIANT INTERCEPTION!

Five minutes later, Guisborough left back Dylan McAvoy made a brilliant interception at the back post to preserve his side’s two-goal lead.

Just after the hour mark, Guisborough made their first change as Beddow departed and on came 17-year-old Jaedon Faulkner for his first league appearance for Town following his impressive debut in the friendly against Whitby Town the previous Saturday.

In the 76th minute another Guisborough substitute Tommy Dowson made his debut, coming on for Josh Macdonald who had put in a great shift.

Two minutes later Easington were awarded a penalty when Errington appeared harshly penalised and up stepped Dylan Elliott to pull one back for his side to 2-1.

In the 84th minute Guisborough had strong appeals for a penalty of their own but the referee waved play on.

Guisborough managed to hold firm for the last few minutes to clinch a fully deserved victory.

The crowd was 232 with Guisborough’s loyal travelling faithful fans responsible for a fair amount of that total.

Guisborough now look forward to hosting Teesside rivals Boro Rangers at the Kevin Edward KGV Stadium this coming Wednesday, 30 July (KO 7.45pm).

Report: Bill Perfitt